The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-11-03
PRISON C0NTRART LABOR.
PUBLICANISM IN THE OHIO
PENITENTIARY.
Violation of Statute Law for the Purpose
Of Bringing the Couvicts into Conn
petition with Honest Work
inGmen,

classes both parties declared in favor oil
the abolishnlent OF the contract system
OF employing convict labor. -
The dempcratic party WIS successful
in that c:.mpaisn. and as last as exist
ing contracts expired the convicts were
pnt 10 WORK on the piece-price, state
account plan, or remained idle.
When the present republican adj
ministration got control OF the neniten-
tiary they saw that it was impossible to
place the institution on a paying basis
except by returning 10 the old contract
system.
III order to do this the revised stat
utes of the State of Ohio were ignored,
and prisoners let on contracts that do
not expir: until 1891 all this was done
in direct violation OF law.
There is no doubt but what the con-
vict labor in the panitentiary when it
is concentrated on few industries as it
now is, and 1T on contract, works untold
injuries to the working classes
1t is we'll known fact and cannot
be d..ni "a, that the 250 convicts en-
piayed in malsns hollow ware in the
Ola PeEitentiary have cpmpleteiy
ruined that industry in this State, and
reduced the wages OF the men employed
in the only remaining shop on an aver
age 10 per cent.
The hollow ware factory in Columbus,
and the two in Cincinnati, were. driven
to the wall by convict labor, and the
employees compelle to either leave the
State or seek employment in other in
dustries.
The factory at Medina is the only one
remaining, and there the wages Of the
men have h5en reduced p per cent
during the past five years.
But the hollow-ware moulders are
not the only men suffering from dis
astrous campetition with convict labor,
which costs from thirty-tiye to seventy
five cents per day.
There is now cooper shop iu the
Ohio Peniteniary, and in 1886 it pro-
duced ST., 900 worth OF pork barrels
Some idea OF the terrible effects of
competition with convict la 5or in this
industry can be formed from the last
report of the National. Bureau Of Labor
Statistics
Statistics have been gathered cover
ing the periol from 1879 to lnS5 and the
results are decide tly startling, They
show that in l.j11 ronvictJ ia Joliet
Pen tentiary manufactured 20. 4
pieces OF tight cooperlse AMI this
when it was 7i',2Ul, an during the
same per the prOduct OF the free
shops in Chicago maainy.tight work
. in
in ls3 which is very slight increase.
Til. Burtau tin that during these
eleven We trs the in lustry outside prison
walls has shown no material in rease.
"In brirf,' says the commissioner,
"tiie cnntf wior7' business has Increased
500 per cent during eleven years while
the increase in private establishments
was not over 81 per cent.
"instead of Increasing as it should,
stimulated by the imm nse meat-pack-
ing traie iii Chicago, the industry out
side prison walls is feebler now than it
was eieYen wears ago.
"but the proprietor has not heep the
only nor the greatest sufferer in this
struy"l; under the natural and newt
able op ration OF the contra.t sy TEN;
prices have continually d..lined, and
pete with the contractor, has visited
every reduction il price upon the jour-
neymap cooper in the form of a reduc-
ton in wages.
"The cons 'quence has been, as is fra-
quently stated, that Chicago coopers
have often been able to earn more upon
the streets at any kind oil unskilied labor
than at the trade they have spent years
to acquire"
The commissioner follows this state
ment With pos tive proof in the shape of
tables. The first table gives the aver
age wages of coopers engaged in tight
work and the decline was as follows:
in 1875 the average wages received
was $6l3, 1876 $6ll, 1877 S599 1874
s'17, 1879 $50, 1880 545, 1881 s533. 1859
S5lo, 1888 $4Sl, 1854 S445, and 1885 S433
decline of 80 per cent in eleven wears;
and to prove beyond a doubt that this
rnlnous decline is the result OF compe.
titioA with the prison shop, the commits
sioner gives table showing the wages
paid coopers during tn p, same period for
work that did moi compete with the
prison shops, being loose work, The
decline in these shops during the very
same period was less than : per cent,
and to day it is found that the average
wages OF tight-work coopers in Chicago
is Si,2, while the wages of coopers not
injured by prison competition are Soa.:.
Iii i1.j the wages OF both cases OF
co 'p 'fs were the same, showing plainly
the disastrous results OF conrir contract
lalor
But there are other industri IS affected
by the convict labor in the Ohio Peni-
tentiary. In 1856 the Yalne OF the shoes
made by convict labor there was s56,-
900. while the United States Commits.
sioner OF Labor states that the value of
sho,-s produced in all the penitentiaries
during that period was over ten million
dollars.
In the report of the Bureau OF Labor
Statistics of Massachusetts,, for 1886
the following is found ut is suscep.
tible OF positive proof that from the
manufacture OF boots and shoes in
Western prisons the wages OF some of
the operatives in Massachusetts have
been reduced 10 per cent"
Now ii prisonrmade shoea in the West